Posted on 11/15/2010 7:09:05 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Coming off a marathon Asia trip where Obama often found himself rebuffed by fellow world leaders, he will head to Europe this week where the agenda will be clouded by a growing divide over economic strategy and a sense of neglect among traditional U.S. allies.
His challenge is to reassure European partners that, despite political weakness at home and embarrassing setbacks abroad, he remains committed to better cooperation on issues ranging from the war in Afghanistan to the fight against trade protectionism.
But it will not be easy for Obama, whose Democratic Party suffered heavy losses in this month's congressional elections, to dispel the impression that his stature has been diminished on the world stage. He will attend back-to-back NATO and European Union summits in Lisbon on Friday and Saturday.
"The tricky thing for Obama is to show the Europeans not only that he's still important to them but that they're still important to the U.S.," said Sally McNamara, a European affairs expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington.
Accustomed to being at the center of U.S. foreign policy, Europe may be feeling jilted.
Despite the European love affair with Obama when he was elected two years ago, he has let transatlantic ties slip down his priorities list while focusing on rising Asian powers like China and India and domestic concerns such as high unemployment and an anemic economy.
It will not be lost on his European hosts that Obama, who visited Europe six times in his first year, is dashing to Lisbon for little more than 24 hours on the ground after conducting a 10-day four-country tour of Asia.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Just in time to do a little Christmas shopping. How convenient.
This is normal for lame-duck presidents.
The Obamas don’t give Christmas presents.
Another trip???
Geeeze...does this guy EVER show up to work?
I want the President to have nice, relaxing, long trips. May he take many of them without ever feeling obliged to stop back by here.
HEY! Don’t come around here no more!
He’ll be home in time to go to Hawaii for a Chrismas vacation.
Don’t you mean l!mp d!ck president
Is this guy EVER in the Office?? Now it’s time to load up the Family Truckster for another Wacky Obama Adventure! National Lampoons Obama European Vacation........
My suspicion is that his European buddies are setting him up for some "breakthroughs"...aka some kind of treaties which the MSM will herald as earth-shaking but which nobody really cares about.
This asshole just might get the coldest shoulder in diplomatic history. He may have to nuke Dublin just to stay warm.
I will seldom complain when this a-hole is out of the country.
Will he be able to get in a game of golf before leaving for Europe?
He and the Wookie only have two more years maxing out CO2 on Air Force 1. He’s not going to let his perks go to waste.
None of the weak minded that voted for the flippant guy thinking he was going to heal our planet expected he would submerge the Maldives jetting around the world.
Soros’ little messenger boy on the road again.
It's ALL About Obama isn't it?
It's ALL About Obama isn't it?
sniff sniff
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